


Sherlock's Heart Hasn't Been Burnt Out ... Yet

by wellthengameover



Series: Sherlock Meta [9]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Episode: s01e03 The Great Game, Episode: s03e02 The Sign of Three, Meta, Other, Sherlock Meta, TJLC | The Johnlock Conspiracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:49:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5225855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthengameover/pseuds/wellthengameover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moriarty hasn't burn out Sherlock's heart yet - and he's not going to succeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sherlock's Heart Hasn't Been Burnt Out ... Yet

I’m not sure why everyone seems to think Sherlock’s heart is burnt out. Sherlock’s very sad, yes, but obviously this show is going to have a happy ending, therefore Sherlock’s heart _can’t_ get burnt out. [John marrying Mary was a huge step on the way to burning Sherlock’s heart out](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem), but it’s not enough to actually be successful because Sherlock basically said at the wedding “It doesn’t matter if you’re mine or not; I’ll always be yours. I’ll always love you.” **His heart being burnt out would be a man who feels _nothing -_ _incapable of love_ , [that’s what Jim wants](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem) \- and TSoT definitely doesn’t end with a man who feels nothing or is incapable of love.**

Devastated? Definitely. Incapable of love? No chance.

When Jim implies heartbreak with “burn the heart out of you,” he doesn’t mean the idiomatic expression “a very strong feeling of sadness, disappointment, etc.” He means broken as in the more literal meaning: it doesn’t work anymore. Sherlock’s heart won’t work anymore. A heart isn’t like a broken clock or a broken ankle; it doesn’t ever get better because a heart doesn’t want to be fixed. Sherlock with his heart burnt out won’t be able to love anymore, and he won’t want to. (But - of course - that will never happen. No fear.)

Sherlock relapses in HLV because he doesn’t want to feel anymore, but not because he doesn’t want to love anymore. He’s loves John, but he can’t have John, so he’s sad, so he doesn’t want to feel. But he’d obviously rather love John and have John love him and be happy. **Jim wants Sherlock _not to want that._ Jim wants this: if Sherlock had the choice between a) being in love with John, together and happy, and b) not feeling anything at all, he’d go for not feeling anything. That’s burning his heart out.** See why Jim is never going to win?

Even in season one, it was obvious Sherlock wanted love; he just pretended like he didn’t to protect himself. Think of how excited he is to make a friend in ASiP. He’s practically bouncing around John like a puppy. Jim wants that hopefulness gone. That’s the kind of burning the heart out Jim’s going for - incapable of love and happy about it - and that’s definitely not where Sherlock is. He realized he’s in love; that’s the opposite of burning his heart out.

But [that’s exactly Jim’s plan](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem). It’s a really long game (five seasons worth, funnily enough). Haven’t we known all along that Jim wants to show Sherlock how big his heart actually is exactly _so he can burn it out better?_

> JIM: I’ll burn the _heart_ out of you.  
>  SHERLOCK _(softly)_ : I have been reliably informed that I don’t have one.  
>  JIM: But we both know that’s not _quite_ true.

Jim can’t burn it out if Sherlock doesn’t know - or pretends not to know - that it exists.

Think of Sherlock in ASiP. Jim _couldn’t_ burn his heart out because Sherlock didn’t love anything/realize he loved anything enough for Jim to be able to use it against him. So showing Sherlock his own heart is exactly what Jim did at the pool:

Jim went and deliberately pointed out the thing Sherlock loves the most - the thing Sherlock learned he can’t stand to lose - and made him think about losing it:

But the thing is: Sherlock _still didn’t know how much he loved John._ He doesn’t figure that out until TSoT:

Jim couldn’t really burn Sherlock’s heart out until Sherlock was truly aware of the depth of his emotions. Which happens at John’s wedding to Mary. And who put Mary in their path? Jim.

John and Sherlock would’ve still stayed pretty close friends after John’s marriage. We know John can’t manage to give up Sherlock, however hard he tries. And Sherlock loves John so much that - while not happy or content with only being John’s friend - it would’ve been so much better than not having John at all that it wouldn’t have burnt his heart out. **The wedding doesn’t burn Sherlock’s heart out.[It was step one](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem). Now Sherlock knows what he wants, what he has to lose, so Jim’s ready to go in for the kill in steps two and [three](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/111400354387/the-joy-of-redemption). **_[How](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem)_[he’s going to do that is what he calls “The Final Problem.”](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/105279839079/the-final-problem) But of course, he could never be successful, since we know John and Sherlock will live happily ever after at the end of the series.

**Author's Note:**

> Transcribed from [my meta blog on tumblr](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/my-sherlock-meta). Much more there.


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